Right Wing: Pentagon Shooter and the Battle to Disassociate

In a Townhall.com post titled “Tragedy Occurs. Media Rush to Blame Right-Wing” Kevin Glass writes that the stampede to peg the Pentagon shooter as a right-wing extremist is in full swing. He points to an ominous-sounding tweet by conservative blogger Allahpundit: "It begins"—which links to a Christian Science Monitor piece questioning whether right-wing extremism had led John Patrick Bedell to fire on Pentagon police officers, injuring two before being fatally shot himself.

Glass writes: “Many in the media have been quick to jump on homegrown attacks on federal buildings as evidence of 'right-wing extremism,' insinuating that anxiety and anger on the Right has led to these violent attacks. Apparently, anger at the prohibition of marijuana, conspiracy theories about the U.S. military's secret drug operation and quoting Marx are all symptoms of being a right-winger in the United States these days.” (News reports state that Bedell was angered over what he saw as a government cover-up in the case of Marine Col. James Sabow.)

Blogger Sistah Toljah writes: “Yes, The Pentagon Shooter was a Far Left Nutcase.” “Not that I really care one way or the other about J. Patrick Bedell’s political persuasion, but since the left and MSM (but I repeat myself) both have a nasty, dishonest habit of painting every violent “anti-government” act as one being perpetrated by 'reich wingers', the truth must be told.”

RedState’s Moe Lane also joins the chorus. “I wasn’t going to bring up the politics of J. Patrick Bedell—mostly because, like Patterico, I figure that the guy was just nuts from the start, and not made that way by listening to Keith Olbermann."

But Lane pulls up three bullet points to underscore Bedell's lefty credentials.

He concludes that they don't exactly fit the right-wing-extremist narrative. "And by ‘do not precisely fit’ I mean 'contradict.' That first opinion alone is shared by how much of the Democratic party, again?" asks Lane. "I swear to God, it’s like some of these people want there to be right-wing crazies attacking everything that moves. Which is sick.”

Details are still emerging about Bedell, but the verdict in the conservative media has been handed out: Bedell belongs to the left.